Saturday, December 12, 2015

Pros and Cons of Every Student Succeeds Act for Dyslexia

On Friday, December 10th, 2015 Barack Obama Signed the Every Students Succeeds Act. This new law now rewrites the No Child Left Behind Act and offers a number of changes that could have both positive and negative ramifications for students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. As with any new law, the true pros and cons will be revealed over time, but here is a list of considerations.

Pros of ESSA

Cons of ESSA

The Common Core curriculum can be adopted by states, but it is no longer required.

Annually, 3rd through 8th grade students will still have to be tested in Math and English. In addition, high school students will be tested once.

School accountability has shifted from the federal to the state level. Now, states will be responsible for setting academic goals and evaluating their schools.

Now advocates will have to focus their attention on both federal and state mandates.

There is more flexibility in how accountability tests are administered as well as the testing format.

Only 1% of students (10% or students with disabilities) will qualify for alternate testing. With this cap, the testing needs of many students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities will likely be ignored.

Federal proficiency goals for schools and the penalties for the failure to reach them have been eliminated.

If alternative testing is granted, these students will likely receive “special diplomas” or no diplomas upon graduation.

The creation of a Comprehensive Literacy Center will focus on reading difficulties for kids with disabilities like dyslexia. The center will offer information for parents and teachers as well as professional development in the areas of screening and educational tools.

If students with learning disabilities don’t receive the needed testing accommodations this could limit their accessibility to higher education.

ESSA will provide up to $160 million in grants on reading skills such as decoding and phonological awareness.

There are no opt-out options proposed in the law. Each state will be deciding this matter.

States are now required to create a plan that reduces bullying, restraints, seclusions, suspensions and expulsions. This should be helpful as this often

impacts students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

The true test of this law lies in the specifics that will soon be defined by each state. Clearly, it will be important for advocates to speak with state representatives and be involved with the creative process so that the needs of students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities are addressed and supported.

Multisensory Multiplication and Division to Melodies CD - MMDM

Kangaroo Metric Conversions

College Essay Workshop

Eclectic Teaching Approach

Noodle the Noun Hound

Preppy the Preposition Penguin

Fraction Golf, Hockey and More

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact: erica@goodsensorylearning.com.

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog may unintentionally contain content which might appear to present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified.